Diecast Drive-by

I just made a few good finds in the grocery store while on an emergency cat food run.  Inspired by Spacejacker's amazing Hot Wheels repaints, I thought they might work as 15mm scale vehicles.  First, the "International MXT", in desert drab:

Wow!  Probably a bit off-scale, but it looks perfect next to some average minis.  This is a real military truck, but not so well-known you can't field it as a fictional one.  Detail is a bit soft, but I don't know if that's from the casting or the kid-proof paint layer.  Apparently even this durable paint can be stripped with solvents or oven cleaner, but the metal body has to be separated from the plastic frame and wheels.

Next up we have this tracked dump truck thingy.  Some greasy sci-fi potential here, for sure.  The cab is not at all big enough to be 1:100/15mm, but I still feel like something could be done with it, or at least the track portion could be used as the basis for a kit bash:

There are probably a bunch more interesting things available along these lines; I've been keeping an eye out for that cool fire engine Spacejacker used, but no luck so far...

Colour Commentary?

So I'm working on these GOTA troops from Khurasan, and while I'm generally happy with the colours I've picked and how they look on their bases, I am stuck on one thing.
 

My robot!  I don't want it to be exactly the same scheme as the troopers, and just blend in.  But I don't want to do it in a wildly contrasting or too-colourful style either because I'm trying to make them look realistically military and of the same faction.

Any suggestions, oh readers?

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Also, my Planet Tubby entry in the Titanium Dropship painting contest has finally been posted on Dropship Horizon, along with a lot of other very, very nice entries.  Check em out, if you haven't already!

Hellspawn Hero

Hellboy
15 mm

"Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons!"

This miniature is released by my favourite mini company as part of a pack called "friendly demons".  Its a pretty good proxy for Mike Mignola's wisecracking demonic comic book hero.  I whipped up a couple of spectral foes for him too, using Rebel Minis' Nazi zombie pack:

"Aw crap!  Nazi ghosts?  Worst kind of ghosts!"

Now I just need a 15 mm pyrokinetic woman, amphibian man and homunculus, and maybe a plague of frogs.  Anung Un Rama...

"They Came From Planet Tubby"

Mysterious Tele-Aliens
15 mm

The origins of these strange biomechanical aliens are shrouded in mystery.  They dance and babble in childlike voices, until they suddenly disappear, only to turn up on a new world.  Strangely, they can communicate instantly with others of their kind via their abdominal view screens, and so have become a widely used faster-than-light messaging network for other species.  They have been known to alarm some human religious leaders, but are considered an extremely useful oddity by most sentients.
 

(This "squad" was my entry in the Dropship Horizon 15mm SF painting contest.  A lot goofier than my original plan, but time was tight.)

The figures above were my original plan for this contest.  Khurasan GOTA Clan riflemen with Mekanoid Melee Bots for support, on scratchbuilt starship bases.  But my KM order just arrived this week and there's no way I could have finished them nicely for the 15th.  So, Tubbies it is ;)

Jen Haley MURDERS Khurasan's Paranormal Investigators

I don't normally post about other people's paint jobs... but damn it, woman:

"Something's spooky out there Mulder, and it's Ms. Haley's brush control."

I was still am pretty proud of my paint job on this set, but yet again, Haley shows me why she's soaring with the eagles while I'm still ****ing with the ducks.

According to Jon's TMP post, Khurasan will begin selling these with a new wave of releases starting next week.

Ooh! A painting competition!

The excellent blog Dropship Horizon is holding a 15mm sci-fi painting comp.  Their post itself is pretty clear, but in a nutshell:  three categories: squad, vehicle/mech, terrain piece.  Must be sci-fi.  You can enter one entry per category.  Lots of prizes.

The comp closes in a month so, if you're me and your stock of 15mm figures is sadly depleted, time is a bit tight.  But hopefully I can pull something together and even have the time to paint it nicely.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Ice Warriors
28 mm

You might have to be a real Doctor Who fan to appreciate these old enemies who made a reappearance this past year, in the Eleventh Doctor episode "Cold War".  As with the recent reappearance of the Zygons, I think they managed to update the concept while keeping the same goofy 60's-special-effects charm of the original design.

"That one!"  "Duh-okay boss!"

I really liked their appearance in the 1972 (Third Doctor) episode "The Curse of Peladon", where, while abrasive, they weren't the bad guys any more, and ultimately helped the Doctor discover the real villains and maintain peace.  These two figures depict the Ice Lord Izlyr and his bodyguard Ssorg from that episode.